


Detective Loki: The Theft of Thor's Hammer (A Loki / Norse Mythology-Based Fiction)

by FM Svartkatt (FMeeper)



Series: Detective Loki ( Loki / Norse Mythology-Based Fiction) [1]
Category: Crime Dramas - Fandom, Loki - Fandom, Nordic Noir, Norse Mythology, Norse Religion & Lore, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Norse Religion & Lore, Crime dramas, F/M, Heathen, Lokean - Freeform, Loki (Norse Mythology) - Freeform, Loki Angst, Loki-centric, Nordic Noir - Freeform, Norse Mythology - Freeform, Odin (Norse Mythology) - Freeform, Satire, Sigyn - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-04
Updated: 2016-06-05
Packaged: 2018-07-12 07:27:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 8,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7091557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FMeeper/pseuds/FM%20Svartkatt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Thor's hammer has been stolen, and it's up to Loki and his new partner to find it. There was also a murder.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue & Ch. 1

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place in modern times with AU Asgard as a nation. This is crime drama/Norse mythology/satire.

**Prologue**

A blizzard raged as the sun rose over Gladsheim, the capital district of Asgard. Snow quickly covered the parking lot of the seedy motel, The Rainbow Bridge Inn. Inside room 102, Thor, a detective in Asgard’s national police force, was just waking up. He was badly hung-over. His head throbbed, and he rubbed his eyes as he tried to clear his head. He turned on his side to reach out to his lover but found that the other side of the bed was empty. He looked over to the bathroom, but the door was open and the light was off.

“Jarnsaxa?” he called out.

Receiving no response, he got up and walked to the window to see if her car was still there. He pushed the curtain aside and saw the swirling snow that cut visibility to just a few yards. He vaguely thought that this was odd since snow had not been in the forecast. He figured he should just go back to sleep and turned back toward the bed.

He froze in horror. The glare of the motel sign light and glow of the snow from the window illuminated Jarnsaxa’s body on the floor next to the bed. He saw a dark pool around her head and began to feel panicked. His eyes darted toward the nightstand on his side of the bed, and he felt more panicked. His hammer, Mjølnir, was gone.

 

**Ch. 1**

Detective Loki knocked on Odin’s door. Odin, the Chief of Police, had called him early in the morning and summoned him to work, saying it was an emergency. He had dressed hurriedly, in one of his black suits, as he always dressed for work, and quickly combed his long, straight, Black No. 1 hair, which reached mid-way down his back. He smoothed it down now with his left hand at the part in the middle and pushed some stray strands away from his angular face.

“Come in,” called Odin, seeing through the frosted glass door that it was Loki.

Loki entered and shut the door behind him. Odin motioned for him to sit down, and Loki took the empty seat across from Odin’s desk. Thor was sitting in the other chair on Loki’s left. Loki observed that Odin was glaring at Thor with his one remaining eye.

“What’s going on?” asked Loki jovially, fully aware that neither Odin nor Thor was in a jovial mood. He set his travel mug of coffee down on Odin’s desk.

“Your idiot partner has lost his weapon,” began Odin.

“Hold on,” interjected Loki. “He loses his weapon, and suddenly he’s my idiot partner instead of your golden boy son?” He picked up his coffee mug and started sipping.

“Save your wits for this case,” Odin said exasperatedly, “For not only is Thor’s hammer missing, but it was likely stolen by whomever killed his mistress, whose body he found with him in their motel room earlier this morning.”

Loki nearly spat out his coffee. “Nepotism not working out so well for you, huh?” Loki held his mug in front of his face as he tried to stop grinning inappropriately.

“Enough!” snapped Odin. “I’m putting you in charge of this case, and you will solve it quickly, or you will be out of a job.”

_Why me?_ thought Loki. “Fine,” he sighed. “You can count on me. As usual.”

Odin nodded. “I have assigned Thor to desk duty, at least for this case. I’ve brought in a new partner for you. She’s new, but she graduated from the academy at the top of her class. I told her to meet you in your office.”

“OK,” said Loki.

“A woman? You’re replacing me with a woman?” Thor whined to Odin. Loki smirked as he exited and headed to his office.

As Loki approached his office, he saw through the open door that his new partner was already there. She was sitting in one of the chairs in front of his desk, facing away from him. She had long blond hair, bleached, judging by the dark roots. She must have heard him coming because she stood up and turned around and faced him. Shorter strands of hair framed her face, accenting her cheekbones, and she wore a straight-cut blazer over a casual blue shirt, slim-fit black pants, and flat-heeled black leather boots.

“Loki, I presume?” she asked as he entered the room.

“How did you know? And, how did you know I was coming?” he asked.

“You have a mirror behind your desk,” she replied as he was looking in it, smoothing his hair with one hand again. “And, well, you don’t look like a patrol officer.”

Loki grinned. She seemed to at least be more observant than Thor.

“My name is Sigyn,” she added. They shook hands.

“We better get to the crime scene. I’ll drive,” said Loki.

She grabbed a travel mug that was on his desk.

“Coffee?” he asked.

“Tea. Black. Unsweetened,” she replied.

They walked out of the police station and into the parking lot. She followed him as he approached an unmarked black sedan.

“This is my car. I got it as part of the job. I’ve had this one a long time. I keep asking Odin for a new one, but he keeps brushing me off,” said Loki.

“Maybe you should just pick out what you want and expense it,” said Sigyn, half joking, half not.

“You are devious. I like you,” Loki said, smiling.

“Just don’t blame me if your expense report is rejected,” she clarified. “Why doesn’t Odin just get you something though?”

“I don’t know,” Loki answered. “Old habit of his, I guess. All the shit I’ve done for this job, and he can’t even get me a new car.”

“Oh,” she responded. She figured this wasn’t the moment to tell him about the car she had gotten as part her signing.

They sat in silence for a few minutes until they stopped at a red light in city traffic, and Loki started making conversation again. “I assume Odin recruited you from Midgard?” he asked.

“What, because there are no short Aesir?” she joked.

“Uh, no. I mean, Odin likes to recruit women from Midgard.”

“That doesn’t sound any better.”

“Heh, sorry.” They both laughed. The light turned green, and Loki started driving again.

“Yeah, though, Odin did recruit me from Midgard,” Sigyn continued. “How did you end up here working for Odin?”

“You could say that Odin recruited me also.” He did not elaborate. “You actually wanted this job?” he asked, curious.

“Yeah, I applied right away when I saw the post.”

“It’s just that I kind of have a bad reputation, and some people don’t want to work with me. I’m not originally from here, and people don’t like _different_. People like to have someone to vilify. If my ways are _wrong_ , then surely theirs must be _right_. I only ever did my job though,” said Loki.

“Well, I did think that I was going to be working with Thor,” she said with a smirk. “Just kidding! Complexity is not for simple people,” she added. Loki grinned.

They arrived at the motel, and pulling into the parking lot, the car suddenly skidded on a coating of snow.

“Shit!” exclaimed Loki, stopping sideways in the middle of the parking lot.

They got out of the car and looked around at the snow. It was the middle of summer in Asgard.

“Frost Jotuns?” asked Sigyn.

“Likely,” replied Loki.

They put on gloves and continued to the motel room and ducked under the police tape to enter. The forensics team was inside, collecting samples and examining the body.

“Thialfi, Roskva, this is my new partner, Sigyn,” said Loki. They nodded at each other. “What have you found?”

“She was hit in the head with a heavy object. Could have been Mjølnir, but we’ll know more after the lab testing,” replied Roskva. “We found some wet shoe prints in the carpet, but they only go from the door to Thor’s nightstand, then back to the door,” she adding, pointing.

Loki looked down at a shoe print. “It’s large, quite possibly Jotun.”

“We also found this,” added Thialfi, holding up a Ziploc baggie with a long black strand of what seemed to be a synthetic fiber.

Loki nodded. “Contact me when you have the lab results. Let’s go see if anyone heard or saw anything,” he added to Sigyn.

They went to the manager’s office. A dwarf with a nametag stating “Ivaldi” sat in a chair behind the front desk.

“Detective Loki. This is Detective Sigyn.” They held up their badges. “Did you see or hear anything last night?”

“Only that guy who ran out screaming when he saw the body.” Loki smirked at that. “And, the snow,” continued Ivaldi. “I heard the guy scream, then I opened the door and saw the snow.”

“Did anyone else stay here last night?” asked Sigyn.

“No. Slow night. That couple though, they were regulars.”

“You didn’t hear any cars?” asked Sigyn.

“No,” replied Ivaldi.

Loki handed Ivaldi his card. “Let me know if you think of anything else.”

Loki and Sigyn went back outside and got into his car. Loki started the car but sat there thinking for a moment. “The Jotun lead is about all we have now. The footprints… And, a Jotun could get here by magic, without a car. Then there’s the snow, so it must be a frost Jotun.”

“Yeah, but the footprints didn’t go to the body. Isn’t Thor married?” asked Sigyn. “We should question his wife.”

“Yes, perhaps we should, but we have to get the hammer back first. It’s a weapon. It could be used against Asgard. I say we go to Jotunheim.”

“Then what?” Sigyn asked as Loki started driving, spinning through what was now slush.

“There’s someone who might be able to help us. He lives in Utgard. His name is also Loki. We’ll call him Utgard-Loki so as to avoid confusion.”

“What is he? An ally? An informant?” asked Sigyn.

“It’s complicated,” Loki replied.

“I’ve heard the story about you and Thor going to Utgard and meeting him. Is it true?” asked Sigyn.

“Unfortunately, yes,” Loki replied. “We must be careful there. He is a master of magic. Even more than I ever was. At least Thor won’t be with me this time. Utgard-Loki took great pleasure in humiliating Thor by challenging him with the things that he could not possibly defeat.”

“And you? He challenged you with fire.”

“I am not sure how exactly he meant to mock me,” Loki stated tensely, gripping the steering wheel tighter. “It could have meant that I am not fully what I could have been or that I will always defeat myself. I told you that Odin recruited me. He recruited me from Chaos.”

Sigyn began to understand. She looked away, out the window, and changed the subject. “How far are we going?”

“It’s about a five hour drive from here,” replied Loki. “Actually, we may need to stop somewhere overnight.”

“I didn’t bring anything for that,” she protested.

“Where do you live? We can stop there first.”

She gave him directions to her apartment. It was in the city, close to the police station, an area where many officers lived.

“Do you want to come up?” Sigyn asked as Loki parked in a visitor’s spot.

“Sure,” he replied.

They walked up to the building, a bleak concrete high-rise. Sigyn unlocked the door. “I live on the ninth floor. Would you like to take the stairs with me? If not, there is an elevator.”

Loki smirked. “Stair challenge accepted.”

Sigyn opened the door to the stairwell and started climbing up the stairs, two at a time, with Loki right behind her. They were breathing heavily when they got to her unit. “Fun, isn’t it?” she asked as she unlocked her door.

“Indeed,” replied Loki as they stepped inside. Sigyn went into the bedroom and stuffed some clothes and toiletries into a duffle bag.

“Nice place,” Loki said when she came back into the living room.

She shrugged.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“The stairs are the only good thing.” She walked to the window and pushed open the curtains, exposing a view of more tall buildings. “I feel trapped. I need grass. I need trees. I need to see squirrels running around. I need quiet. I need to be away from people.”

“It’s just somewhere to start off. I’m sure you’ll have that someday,” he said sympathetically.

“Thanks. I can only hope.” She grabbed a few bottles of tea from the refrigerator, put them in a cooler, and then they headed back to the car. Loki put her stuff in the trunk, and they headed toward Jotunheim.


	2. Chapter 2

Jotunheim seemed to be stuck in time. It was sparsely populated, and the homes were mostly ancient stone castles. The south was thickly forested with spruce trees. Even the capital, Utgard, seemed rural.

After driving for hours, Loki and Sigyn finally arrived at the home of Utgard-Loki. The driveway was long and winded up a hill to a large, stone mansion nestled in the hills. They parked and got out of the car. A ridiculously large Jotun approached. He was a literal giant.

“I am Skrýmir,” said the Jotun. “Who approaches?”

“I know who you are,” said Loki.

“Oh, it’s you. Hello, Loki,” said Utgard-Loki, dropping his disguise.

“Hello, Loki,” replied Loki.

“What are you doing here? I warned you not to try to challenge me again,” said Utgard-Loki.

“I’m not here to challenge you. As you can see, Thor is not here. This is my new partner, Sigyn.”

“We were hoping you could help us,” said Sigyn politely.

Utgard-Loki looked interested now.

“Thor’s hammer has been stolen,” explained Loki. “We need to find it. I thought that you, being a master of magic, might be able to help us find it.”

Utgard-Loki thought for a moment. “Of course. Of course, I can. Come in, dine with me.”

Utgard-Loki led them into his castle, and they all sat down to a feast in the dining hall. The long table was full of various meats, breads, and vegetables. Sigyn ate what she could while the two Lokis scarfed down much more. Afterward, Utgard-Loki ushered them to a den which had a plush couch and walls covered with purple draperies. He gave each of them a glass of wine.

“You will see what you want,” Utgard-Loki told them. Then he leaned in toward Loki and said in his ear, “You owe me.”

“What do you want?” Loki whispered back.

“I haven’t decided yet, but I’m sure I’ll think of something.” Utgard-Loki left the room, closing the large wooden door behind him.

“What are we doing? Is this wise?” Sigyn asked apprehensively.

Loki laughed. “We need information, don’t we?”

“But, you said we should be careful,” she protested.

“I say a lot of things,” he argued. “Don’t worry, we won’t leave the room.”

They sat down on the couch and drank the magic-spiked wine.


	3. Chapter 3

Sigyn found herself in her apartment, on her couch. She must have dozed off. She heard a knock on the door and got up to answer it. It was Loki.

“Loki, what are you doing here?” she asked.

“You invited me,” he replied.

She let him in, and they stood in the living room. She didn’t remember inviting him, yet she felt like she wanted him there. “Shouldn’t I have had to buzz you into the building?”

Loki shrugged. “I must have picked the lock. I’m a detective.”

He was wearing his black work suit. She realized that she was just wearing yoga pants and a loose fitting t-shirt, and her hair was disheveled. “Well, I guess I’m underdressed,” she said.

“No, you’re quite overdressed.” He moved closer to her and put his hands on her waist. She opened her mouth to say something, but she didn’t know what and instead found his lips on hers. She put her arms around him as she returned his kiss. His hands found her hair, then her waist, then her ass. When they pulled apart, she took his hand and led him to her bedroom. She felt content, like she had what she wanted.

 

Sigyn found herself in her apartment, on her couch again. She heard a knock on the door again. This time Loki arrived wearing a black leather tunic and black leather pants with golden metal armor accents, his formal attire for police ceremonies; the style paid homage to the old days of legend. The third time, Sigyn was wearing her ceremonial cloak of swan feathers… but nothing else. The fourth time, Loki brought handcuffs from the police station. The fifth time, Sigyn used them on him.

The sixth time, as Loki grinned and dangled the handcuffs, Sigyn began to think. “Wait. Something is wrong,” she said. She was wearing work clothes this time. Loki looked a bit concerned.

“Yeah, we’ve already done this,” said Loki, putting the handcuffs in his pocket. “We could do something else.”

“No. What you said about having already done this, that’s exactly it. We keep doing the same thing. That is _all_ that we’ve been doing. How much time has actually passed? Do you know?” she asked.

“No,” he said slowly. He looked conflicted. “Does it really matter though?”

“Yes! This doesn’t seem right. I have a feeling that we’re supposed to be doing something else,” Sigyn insisted.

“Oh… Well, maybe,” he admitted.

“We are supposed to be finding something,” she pushed. Loki looked sheepish and avoided her gaze. “You know!”

“Now that you mention it. We are supposed to be finding Thor’s hammer.”

“Did you know all along?” she asked angrily.

“Not really!” he protested. “I _may_ have had a vague idea in the back of my mind, but I wasn’t really thinking about it.”

“Well, what now? How do we find the hammer? You seem to know more than you’re letting on, so perhaps you have an idea,” she accused.

“I think that if we think of it, our minds will lead us to it. Just think of it, nothing else. Now, before the magic wears off.” They both concentrated on the hammer.

Sigyn found herself soaring through the sky as a falcon. Another falcon, presumably Loki, flew next to her. This was advanced magic, only known now through the old legends. They were flying over what looked like northern Jotunheim, a land of snow and ice. Suddenly the wind shifted and pushed them down toward a clearing on a hill where a frost Jotun sat making some sort of crafts that looked like they could be giant dog collars and leashes. Loki and Sigyn landed near the Jotun.

“I’ll talk to him,” Loki told Sigyn in their minds.

“I’ll see if I can find Mjølnir,” Sigyn told Loki in their minds.

She flew off a little further away to the Jotun’s hall, a large, gray, stone castle that looked like it was carved out of the mountain that loomed behind it. Landing on a parapet along the roof, she closed her eyes and thought of the hammer. She felt a sensation of being sucked downward. Opening her eyes, she found herself in a windowless stone room, perhaps a cellar, and saw Mjølnir in a locked glass cabinet. Now she had seen what she needed to see.

Meanwhile, Loki approached the Jotun.

“Hello, Loki,” said Thrym, the frost Jotun.

“Hello, Thrym,” said Loki in human speech although still in falcon form.

“How are things in Asgard?” asked Thrym.

“Bad,” replied Loki.

“Why bad?” asked Thrym.

“Thor’s hammer has been stolen,” replied Loki. “Any idea where it might be?”

“How should I know?”

Loki shrugged his falcon shoulders. “Don’t you know things?”

Thrym grunted. “What if I do?”

“Maybe there’s a reward,” replied Loki.

“What kind of reward?” asked Thrym.

Loki shrugged again. “Up to Odin.”

“No, up to me,” countered Thrym. “Tell Odin that if he wants the hammer back, he will need to give me Freyja as my bride.”

“Hmm,” said Loki thoughtfully. “OK, I’ll tell him.”

Loki flew into the sky toward Thrym’s home.

Sigyn woke up on the couch in Utgard-Loki’s den lying next to Loki, who was still asleep. She shook him. He grabbed her and rolled over on top of her as he woke up, startled.

“Shit!” he exclaimed. Realizing that he was out of the magic-dream, he explained, ”I was flying.”

“Sorry,” she said softly, looking up at him.

“It’s OK.” He lingered over her.

She put her hands on his waist and nudged him off of her. They stood up.

“Let’s get out of here,” Loki said, already heading for the door. Sigyn followed behind him.


	4. Chapter 4

Back in the car, Loki and Sigyn sat in awkward silence as he started driving back toward Asgard.

“I saw Mjølnir,” Sigyn finally said. “It was in a cabinet. The room looked like a cellar or basement. It was all stone walls, no windows, and felt cold and damp.”

“OK, good,” said Loki. “I talked to Thrym. He wants something in exchange for giving back the hammer.”

“So, is this all true, everything that happened? That Thrym has Mjølnir?”

“You know that it is,” Loki replied.

“And, before that?” asked Sigyn.

“We should probably talk about that.”

“You mean when we… were in my apartment? So, you did dream that too?” asked Sigyn.

“Yes. It’s mind-walking. That was the first thing we both thought of,” replied Loki.

“But, we…. We’ve only known each other for a day! Not even! And, we work together!” she protested.

“Is that so horrible? Besides, we work _with_ each other, not _for_ one or the other,” he argued.

“I don’t know,” she sighed.

“Perhaps Utgard-Loki just sought to mock me again, to show me something I can’t have?”

She looked over at him after having been looking out the window the whole time. “Can we just think about this for a while? Maybe solve this case first?”

“Of course,” he replied, not looking back at her.

“So, what did Thrym want in exchange for the hammer?” Sigyn asked, turning the subject back to their job.

“He wants Freyja,” Loki replied.

“What? The model from Vanaheim?” Sigyn asked incredulously.

Loki nodded.

“Does he really think we’d give him Freyja?” Sigyn exclaimed. “We don’t negotiate! More importantly, we don’t trade _people_!”

“No, but he thinks that we do,” said Loki slyly, grinning but then suppressing his grin. “I told him that I would tell Odin.”

“What are you thinking of doing?” asked Sigyn. He seemed to be forming a plan but trying not to get too excited.

“We need to consult with Odin before we do anything, but I don’t see why we can’t pretend to give her to him.” Loki smirked.

“She’s a civilian!” Sigyn protested.

“I haven’t worked out all the details of the plan!”

Sigyn smiled and laughed. “I guess we can figure the rest out later.”

She turned her head back toward the window, and they drove in silence for a while longer. The sun had set. They approached a Super 9 motel.

“We should stop here,” said Loki. He turned in to the parking lot, which was pretty full. They got out of the car, and Loki got their bags out of the trunk.

“You already had a bag with you,” Sigyn observed. “Are you always so prepared?”

Loki just shrugged.

Inside at the front desk, Loki asked for two rooms.

“Sorry,” said the lady at the desk. “We only have one left. There’s a Comic Con in town. Bunch of Midgardian kids.”

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” muttered Sigyn.

Loki looked at her. “The next town is a hundred miles away. Can we please just stay here?”

“Fine,” she sighed. “It better be non-smoking though.”

The lady at the desk nodded.

They took the room. They walked down the hallway, running into a group of Midgardian young people who were dressed as super heroes and villains. Loki put his head down and looked away as they passed.

They got to their room, and Loki quickly unlocked the door, and they hurried in. It had one bed, two nightstands, and a dresser with a TV on it. Sigyn plopped down on the bed.

“Where are you going to sleep?” she teased.

Loki plopped down on the other side. “You could put your weapon between us, like in the Saga of the Volsungs.”

“Hmm, well, I’d rather not roll over and shoot myself.”

“I could sleep on the floor,” he offered.

“No, that’s OK, you don’t have to, but thanks for offering. I’m going to get ready for bed.” She got up, grabbed her travel bag, and went into the bathroom to shower.

When she finished showering and got her clothes out of her bag, she realized that she had brought the same t-shirt and yoga pants that she had been wearing in her mind-walking dream. “Shit,” she muttered.

She went back out into the main room. Loki looked at her and raised an eyebrow.

“Hmm,” he mused.

“Shut up,” she said flatly.

Loki went into the bathroom to shower, and Sigyn got in bed and unsuccessfully tried to sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Back at the police station the next day, Loki and Sigyn sat in the conference room with Odin, Thor, and Officers Heimdall and Tyr. Pictures of Thrym, the hammer, and the dead body were posted on a magnetic white board with a red arrow drawn between Thrym and the hammer and a question mark by the picture of the body. Loki and Sigyn had filled the others in on the hammer’s whereabouts and Thrym’s demands.

“We can _pretend_ that Freyja will marry Thrym,” said Loki.

“We have a woman,” added Odin, looking at Sigyn.

“Me? Are you kidding?” exclaimed Sigyn. “Freyja is a plus-size model. She’s like twice my size.”

“She does not like that term,” said Odin.

Loki smirked. “How would _you_ know?” he asked Odin slyly.

“Nevermind,” snapped Odin. “If not Sigyn, who should go undercover as Freyja?”

“How about Thor?” joked Officer Heimdall.

Loki grinned and smacked his right palm on the table. “Yes!”

“What? No, Heimdall was just kidding!” protested Thor.

“No matter,” retorted Loki.

“Thor can’t go alone. He will need a bridesmaid,” Odin stated, looking at Loki.

“Oh, whatever!” scoffed Loki.

“Wait, are you guys serious?” asked Sigyn. “Won’t Thrym be able to tell the difference between Thor and Freyja?”

Loki and Odin both shrugged. “He is more her size than you are,” said Loki. “Do you have a better idea? We don’t have a ton of people in this department.”

Sigyn shook her head.

“Why can’t we just go and arrest Thrym and get the hammer now?” asked Thor.

Loki rolled his eyes.

“We have no actually evidence yet,” stated Sigyn.

“Yes, Thor, things seen with magic are not concrete evidence,” said an exasperated Odin. “Which is why Loki will let Thrym know that Freyja accepts his proposal, you will go there invited, and you will not cause any trouble. You will retrieve the hammer when Thrym brings it out, and you will arrest him. No illegal searches or violence! Loki will be wired. You other three will be outside,” Odin added to Sigyn, Heimdall, and Tyr.

Thor sighed. “Fine.”

“I’ll call Thrym now,” said Loki as the meeting broke up.

Sigyn went to her desk in the main office. She sat down and started looking through the drawers. In the bottom right drawer, she found what she had been hoping to find: an employee handbook. The pages were yellowed, and the text was in calligraphy. She set the book down on her lap and flipped the cover open. On the first page, small writing on the bottom said “REV Anno 1790.” Sigyn sighed. She carefully flipped through the fragile pages but didn’t see anything on employee relationships. Her mind started wandering to the night before and how much she had wanted to reach over to Loki.

“What are you doing?”

Sigyn almost dropped the book at the sound of Loki’s voice. “Nothing. Just flipping through this. Is this the newest one?”

Loki shrugged. “I’ve never concerned myself with it.”

Sigyn smiled. “Of course you haven’t.”

“The wedding date is set! Nine nights from now!” exclaimed Loki.

“OK, good,” said Sigyn.

Loki walked away, still grinning with excitement.


	6. Chapter 6

Sigyn was assigned the task of shopping for Thor and Loki’s outfits for the undercover operation. She carried a shopping list and note with their measurements and went to the mall. At Frigg’s Bridal she bought a red wedding frock and white underdress for Thor and a green bridesmaid’s frock and black underdress for Loki. She picked out two broaches for each of them for pinning their frocks, and she bought a golden ring of keys for Thor.

The next task was to pick out undergarments in which to stuff some padding for the voluptuous “Freyja” and her bridesmaid. She went to the Norns’ Secrets lingerie store and selected a pretty black bra with green lace for Loki. Then she went to a more traditional department store and picked out the largest, wide-strapped, plain white bra that there was for Thor. She wasn’t sure which one was funnier.

Back at the police station, Sigyn hung the dresses and other bags on the coat rack in Loki’s office and then went to Odin’s office to turn in her receipts. While pinning them to Odin’s bulletin board, she saw that Loki’s receipt for the motel was also there. Odin was sitting at his desk and noticed that Sigyn had paused while looking at the receipts on the bulletin board.

“I noticed that Loki’s receipt was for only one room,” stated Odin.

“There was only one available. Nothing happened!” Sigyn asserted.

“You know,” began Odin. “This is Asgard. If anything were to happen, no one would mind.”

“Oh… Wait, why would you say that? Did Loki say something to you?” asked Sigyn.

“About what?”

“Me.”

Odin sighed. “He also said that nothing happened.”

“You seem disappointed,” said Sigyn.

Odin sighed again. “Look, why do you think I gave you to him?”

“ _Gave me to him_?” exclaimed Sigyn indignantly.

“I mean, assigned you to work with him,” Odin interjected quickly.

“I thought it was because you thought I would be good at the job!” Sigyn said angrily.

“It is! But, I was also hoping for more than that,” Odin admitted. “I’ve known Loki _forever_ , and I thought you would be a good match for each other, that he could actually settle down with you. But, if you’re not attracted to him….”

“Well, I didn’t say _that_ ,” she scoffed.

“Just think about it then,” pleaded Odin.

“I am, but I will decide for myself, not because of you and not because of magic.”

“Magic?” asked Odin.

“Nevermind!” Sigyn exclaimed quickly. “Does Loki know about your scheme?”

“No,” replied Odin.

“One more thing,” added Sigyn. “I want you to swear that whatever happens with Loki and me, it won’t affect my job.” She reached out for Odin’s hand, and they entwined pinky fingers.

“Fine. I swear that whatever happens with you and Loki, it won’t affect your job,” stated Odin.

Sigyn grinned slyly, knowing how important oaths were to Odin. She went back out into the main office and saw a flaxen-haired woman talking to Thor and Loki at Thor’s desk.

“Sigyn,” Loki called her over to them. “This is Thor’s wife Sif. She brought her bridal veil for Thor.”

“OK, great,” said Sigyn as she and Sif smiled and nodded at each other.

“I was just leaving, but nice to meet you, Sigyn,” said Sif.

“You too,” said Sigyn.

Sif walked out of the office, and Thor went back to playing games on his computer.

“Loki, can we talk in your office?” said Sigyn.

“Sure,” replied Loki.

Once in his office, Sigyn closed the door.

“Why is Sif involved in getting Thor’s outfit? I wondered why the veil had been crossed off my shopping list. Did Thor do that? What does Sif know? How much has Thor told her?”

“Oh, who the Niflheim knows,” said Loki exasperatedly. “Thor is such a dolt. I gave up a long time ago.”

Sigyn sighed. “We still don’t know if Thrym is the only person involved in both the theft and the murder.”

“I know, I know. The ‘wedding’ is soon. Once we have Thrym in custody and question him, we’ll know more,” stated Loki.

“Yeah, OK,” said Sigyn.

“Was that it?” asked Loki.

“Well…,” began Sigyn. She wasn’t sure if she should tell Loki that Odin had gotten her for him instead of a new car. Just then a knock on the door interrupted her.

Thor opened the door uninvited. Loki glared at him. “Can I put this in here somewhere?” asked Thor, holding up the veil.

“Yeah,” replied Sigyn. “Put it with the other stuff.” She pointed to the coat rack. “Check out your outfits, guys. I’ll leave you so you can try them on,” she added with a smirk as she left.

“That woman is evil,” she heard Thor mutter to Loki.

“Oh, yes,” she heard Loki reply approvingly. She glanced back at Loki, and they grinned at each other.


	7. Chapter 7

The day of the undercover operation arrived. The team had flown to Jotunheim and picked up a limo from Lieutenant Skadi of the Jotunheim police force, with whom they had coordinated the operation. Sigyn, wearing a chauffeur’s uniform, was driving Thor and Loki to Thrym’s home in the limo. Also in the limo were the audio and recording equipment to be used along with Sigyn’s earpiece and Loki’s wire. Officers Tyr and Heimdall had come along as backup. Thor and Loki were dressed in their wedding outfits that Sigyn had purchased. They also wore makeup, Loki’s skin looking even more alabaster than usual and contrasting with his black eyeliner and mascara, dark green eye shadow, and dark burgundy lipstick. Thor, on the other hand, had just slapped on some of Sif’s red lipstick, and Sigyn had had to insist that he also put on some foundation and eye makeup... and that he shave his beard. He was already wearing the veil over his face, but Sigyn could picture his glare.

As she drove, Sigyn took in the sights of the snow-covered spruce forests and desolate moors that they passed, the perfect backdrops for the black metal tapes that she was playing in the old limo’s cassette player. She occasionally caught Loki’s eye when she looked in the rearview mirror and saw that they shared the same exalted gleam at the sights and the sounds.

Finally, Sigyn turned down a small private driveway and parked in front of Thrym’s castle. She got out of the limo and opened Loki’s door for him.

“How do I look?” he asked.

“Pretty.” Sigyn smiled at him, tilting up the brim of her chauffeur’s hat as she looked up at him.

“So are you,” he replied, briefly taking her leather-glove-covered hands in his.

Sigyn was going to open Thor’s door next, but Thor had already gotten out, slamming the door.

“Thor, will you grow up?” hissed Sigyn. “You need to be believable as a happy bride. Don’t blow this.”

“It does not help that _he_ takes such pleasure in my discomfort,” Thor growled, nodding toward Loki, who was smirking.

“Loki!” Sigyn rolled her eyes but smiled, amused.

Loki and Thor went to the door, and Sigyn got in the back of the limo and started the tape recorder. Time seemed to pass in slow motion as she listened nervously as all of the wedding party sat down to dinner. As she feared, Thrym seemed suspicious and started asking questions.

“Freyja doesn’t look quite like I expected,” he said in a low voice.

“You haven’t met her in person before, have you?” asked Loki, using a falsetto voice since he was a “bridesmaid.”

“No,” replied Thrym.

“Well, that’s just it. You’re used to seeing her in magazines… Photoshop, you know,” explained Loki. “Still, she is _Freyja_. Anyone would be lucky to be marrying her.”

“I suppose so,” conceded Thrym. “She’s really eating a lot,” he added a moment later.

Loki gasped as if offended. “Can’t a woman have an appetite? You don’t want her to starve herself, do you?”

“I suppose not,” conceded Thrym.

Finally, the dinner was apparently over, and Thrym announced that he was going to go get the hammer. Tyr and Heimdall got out of the car and stationed themselves by the door, ready to assist. Sigyn heard sounds of a scuffle, Thor yelling at Thrym, Loki yelling at Thor, and Thrym yelling at both of them. In a moment, Thor emerged from the front door, steering the handcuffed Thrym with one hand and holding his hammer in the other. Loki exited behind them. Sigyn radioed the backup helicopter, which quickly flew in and landed on the front lawn. Tyr and Heimdall escorted Thrym into the helicopter, leaving Sigyn to drive herself and Loki and Thor back to the airport.


	8. Chapter 8

Back at the police station in Asgard, Loki and Thor had changed back into their usual clothes and removed their make-up. Loki was tasked with interviewing Thrym. They sat across the table from each other in the interview room and stared at each other at an impasse. Tyr and Heimdall stood in the back of the room. Sigyn and Odin watched and listened in the room on the other side of the mirror. Thrym had admitted to stealing the hammer but kept denying that he had killed Jarnsaxa. Loki tapped his fingers on the table. He had tried all matter of twisting words and leading questions, but Thrym kept insisting that Jarnsaxa was already dead on the floor when he got there. This was the point when Thor would usually threaten the suspect with the hammer, but Thor, despite participating in the undercover operation, was still technically on desk duty and was not allowed to participate in the interview.

Odin sighed. “Go stop this,” he said to Sigyn. “We can only charge Thrym with theft and extortion. The forensic evidence does not link him to the murder, and he won’t confess. DA Forseti won’t go for the murder charge.”

Sigyn nodded and went to the interview room to tell Loki. Odin watched and listened to them cite the charges to Thrym. Then Tyr and Heimdall led Thrym away to the holding cell.

Odin joined Loki and Sigyn in the main office area. He half smiled in relief at having Asgard’s most powerful weapon back then furrowed his brow, uneasy with not having solved the whole case. Sigyn felt the same as she observed him. Loki shifted on his feet nervously, wondering if he had done enough to please Odin.

Thor approached them and obliviously beamed, “This is great! I have the hammer back! Case solved!” He slapped Loki on the back.

“Don’t you care about-?” began Sigyn, but she stopped herself, realizing that he didn’t.

“I’ll finish typing the report,” stated Loki. He headed to his office.

“It’s been a long day. Let’s go home and rest,” Odin said to everyone else, but he caught Sigyn’s eye, and they shared a knowing look.

After she left the station, Sigyn went for a quick, brisk walk in the park to clear her head and relieve some stress with the physical activity. She knew that only one part of the case was closed. Meanwhile, Loki had finished the report and realized disappointedly that everyone else had left the office, even Sigyn.

Sigyn then walked home but decided to get her car and drive to Total Füds to get some groceries. It was getting late, but the summer sun was still up, and she wasn’t tired. She parked in the back of the Total Füds parking lot, then went in and did her shopping. In the checkout line, she spotted someone familiar.

Sif saw her too. “Sigyn! I talked to Thor. He said you guys got his hammer back. That’s great that the case was solved so fast!”

“Yeah,” replied Sigyn.

“Why don’t you join me for dinner at my house?” asked Sif. “Thor said he won’t be able to make it. He said he has to stay late to finish the report.”

_What, does he have another mistress already?_ wondered Sigyn. “Sure, that would be nice. I’ll follow you in my car.”

They both checked out and then went out to the parking lot together. “Here’s my car,” said Sif pointing to a white Prius. Sif gave her her address, and Sigyn put it in her phone. Sif got in her car and started driving toward the exit as Sigyn walked toward her car. Sigyn noticed the lack of noise from the Prius and remembered that the motel manager had said that he hadn’t heard any cars. Sigyn loaded her grocery bags into the back seat of her car. She started the car and smiled at the roar of the engine but hurriedly texted Loki before she started driving. She quickly caught up with Sif at the light to exit the parking lot and followed her to her house. They drove for about ten minutes, then Sigyn pulled in next to Sif in the driveway of a suburban two-story house. She helped Sif bring in her groceries, and then Sif started preparing dinner.

“Thor works late a lot, huh?” asked Sigyn as Sif was making their salads.

“Yeah,” replied Sif. “That’s why he stays at the motel a lot.”

“You don’t mind?” Sigyn asked.

“I don’t mind having some time to myself,” said Sif, sounding a bit guarded now.

“If I had a husband, and he stayed at a motel so close to home, I might be suspicious,” pushed Sigyn.

“Perhaps that is why you don’t have a husband,” countered Sif, slapping a bowl of salad down on the table in front of her.

“Perhaps,” conceded Sigyn, taking a bite of the salad and hoping that Sif hadn’t snuck poison into the dressing.

Sif got up to start the next course, pouring a box of pasta into a pot of boiling water.

“Excuse me, I need to use the bathroom,” said Sigyn, standing up and taking her purse with her.

“Up the stairs, and it’s the first door to the left,” Sif said.

“Thanks.”

Sigyn hurried up the stairs and went to the right, finding Sif and Thor’s bedroom. She pulled some gloves out of her purse, put them on, and started searching through the drawers of a dresser. The top left drawer was Thor’s, so she moved along to the top right drawer, which was full of Sif’s undergarments. She searched the drawer and found what she was looking for stuffed in the back: a black wig made of synthetic fibers like the one that had been found in the motel. She reached into her purse to get her phone to call Loki.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Sif was suddenly standing in the doorway pointing a gun at Sigyn. “Put down your purse. Put your hands up! Don’t try pulling your gun on me!”

Sigyn slowly put down her purse and put her hands up. _Damn it, where is Loki_? she thought. “Why don’t you tell me what you did? A jury might be sympathetic as long as you don’t add shooting a police officer to the list of charges.”

“Do you know that they had children together?” sobbed Sif. “That was the last straw.”

“I didn’t know that,” said Sigyn sympathetically. “Please put the gun down.”

“What, so you can arrest me?”

“Just explain all of this in your statement,” pleaded Sigyn.

“You don’t care about me!” exclaimed Sif. “You don’t even really care about that whore! You couldn’t have just let it go with finding the hammer, could you? You’re just like Odin: you have to _know_ everything.”

“I guess that’s why he recruited me.”

“And, you’re a smartass like Loki! He always did annoy the Niflheim out of me. Thor told me about how you two look at each other. Do you think he’s any different? You don’t know what it’s like being married to a god. Women are always throwing themselves at them. Do you think you wouldn’t do the same thing as I did?”

Sigyn had been slowly lowering her hands.

“Damn it!” yelled Sif, firing the gun just after Sigyn dove out of the way. Sigyn lunged at Sif and wrestled the gun away from her, but Sif pushed her back, slamming her head against the dresser. Sigyn saw Sif run out of the room as her vision started going black.


	9. Chapter 9

Loki noticed that he had a text message. He hadn’t heard the alert sound. It was from Sigyn: “Meet me at thor and sifs house asap.”

“Shit, I have to go,” he said to Angrboda.

“You always do!” she yelled as he hurriedly finished dressing and ran out of her apartment.

Loki got in his car and sped off to Thor and Sif’s house. While driving, he grabbed his Bluetooth out of the center console and put it on. It had the overlapping runes Hagall and Bjarkan carved on it. Loki told his phone to call Sigyn. There was no answer.

Loki pulled into Sif and Thor’s driveway next to a car that wasn’t Sif’s or Thor’s: a black 4th generation Trans Am WS6 with the license plate KATT. He saw that the front door of the house was open, and he ran inside.

“Sif? Sigyn?” he called.

“Loki?” he heard Sigyn call from upstairs. He ran upstairs and found Sigyn in the bedroom sitting by the dresser. She grabbed his hand and pulled herself up. “Where were you?”

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m here now. What happened?”

“It’s Sif. I found a black wig in the drawer. She admitted to the murder. I got her gun away from her but hit my head on the dresser,” Sigyn explained hurriedly. “Come on, she’s getting away!”

They ran out of the house, and Sigyn got in her car, so Loki got in the passenger seat. “Should you be driving?” he asked.

“Probably not,” she replied. She sped off toward the entrance of the subdivision. They found that Sif hadn’t gotten very far. She was still stopped at the light, waiting to turn onto the main road. Sigyn turned on her siren, which activated the light to turn green. A red light illuminated from side to side on a narrow light strip under the air vents on her car’s hood. Sif looked in her rearview mirror and saw Sigyn and Loki in the Trans Am. The Prius started to creep ahead.

“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!” exclaimed Sigyn. She accelerated and bumped her car into the Prius, KATT’s reinforced bumper not getting damaged. She pushed the Prius across the street into a ditch. Then she pressed a novelty button from an office supply store that was mounted on the dashboard.

“That was easy,” said the button.

Loki grinned and got out of the car. He caught Sif as she tried to flee, and handcuffed her, wrapping her arms around the traffic light pole, securing her in place. He then called the station to have a squad car sent to pick her up.

He got back into Sigyn’s car. “You’ve been hit on the head. I insist that you go to the hospital and get checked out. I’ll drive. Let’s switch seats.”

She hesitated but had to admit that she didn’t quite feel right. “Fine.”

Loki got out of the car, and she climbed over the center console and into the passenger seat. Officers Tyr and Heimdall arrived in the squad car, and Sigyn gave them her statement of what happened. Then they took Sif to the police station, and Loki drove Sigyn to the hospital.


	10. Chapter 10

Loki sat in the hospital ER waiting room. He stood up when he saw Sigyn come back from the exam room. She walked over to him.

“Well?” he asked.

“I’m fine. Just a mild concussion,” she replied.

“ _Just_?”

“I’m supposed to rest. Take it easy, the doctor said.”

“I don’t trust you to do that. You’ll try to run right up those stairs if I take you home,” said Loki.

Sigyn laughed. “Well, what are you going to do about it?”

“I think you need supervision. Come home with me,” said Loki.

“Heh, um…” Sigyn started.

“Seriously. Now that the case is over… and you’re not right in the head.”

Sigyn smiled. “You make a good argument…. Yeah, OK.”

“Really?”

Sigyn nodded. They both smiled. “I think taking it easy applies to more than stair climbing, you know,” she pointed out.

“I know that!” Loki feigned offense.

Loki drove them to his house in her car. He lived further away from the station than Thor did, in the outer suburbs.

“Here we are,” Loki said as he pulled into the driveway. “I’ll put your car in the garage.” He parked and got out to open the door since he didn’t have a remote opener with him.

Sigyn got out of the car and looked around at the large wooded lot and smiled. She had been thinking about the things that Sif had said and how she didn’t want to end up like her. She told herself that she was nothing like Sif and Loki was nothing like Thor. Loki met her back in the driveway, and they held hands as they walked to the house. Everything _looked_ perfect, and she felt happy.


End file.
